If I want the outside of a cake to cook faster because I am using a smaller pan, should I raise the cooking temperature or maybe put the pan on a lower rack?

I have a bundt pound cake recipe that I just love. Recently I bought a bundt pan that has four little cakes rather than one big one. The cooking time I figured out needs to be 45 minutes rather than 1 hour 15 minutes to cook through. The thing about this recipe is the edge against the pan gets brown and is like a crunchy sugar almost, and with the reduced cooking time it just barely gets brown. If I bake it longer the cake would dry out I believe. The pan is non-stick and dark.

10 Answers

I would think lower the temperature a little and go a little longer with the cooking. I would have to figure that out by trial and error though. Slower cooking so it goes all the way through seem logical.

@JLeslie I was reading our penguin’s answer to the question, so I went back to review the question. She is correct. The desired results are the crispy sugary outside of the cake and the 45 minutes isn’t doing it? It’s not cooking enough. A higher temp would do it without drying out the cake I think.

@glacial I have this one. I really wanted a double pan that would accomodate making two cakes out of one typical recipe, but it was impossible to find so I bought this when I ran across it by happenstance in Target. I’m happy with it, but would have prefered a basic typical bundt patterm for all four. I made little cakes to give to friends, and actually the small size is perfect for a couple.

My fiance, who has baked professionally, says to do it at a lower temp to avoid the drying out problem, with the shortened time, and then crank up the heat in the last couple of minutes to crisp the crusts.